RELICS

Chapter 8 : Chip Escapade.

'I was in the maze again. Running. It seemed like I was running towards something. The walls of corridors kept closing in. It rained fire and water flowed from seemingly no-where.

Suddenly the passageway opened up into a large seemingly square hall. A man stood at the center and it looked like he was guarding the sword.

I took a step forward and I realized my mistake. The ground beneath me disintegrated into nothingness and just like that I was falling.'

I woke up abruptly and sat up straight in my bed for the night. It took me a second to process my dream. I wiped the sweat of my forehead and buried my face in my hands. It was slowly adding up. The clues, the dreams. The strange feeling I had in the maze. It was slowly starting to make sense.

"You too?" A voice said near me, his face right next to mine.

I nearly jumped six feet high and almost felt my soul leave my body. In all my years as a trainee, this was the first time that someone had sneaked up on me like this.

"Jeez Levi. You scared the crap out of me." It was evident that my shock had amused him to no extent.

"And what do you mean you too?" I continued.

"Strange dreams I mean. Ever since the test. Like clues are being thrown at you-"

"-And you don't know how to catch them" I completed, wide eyed.

"Exactly. No matter how much I think about it, the more it gets confusing. But it definitely feels right. Does that make sense?" He asked, his voice filled with apprehension.

"This won't do. I need chips" I stated matter-of-factly as I got myself out of the tangle that was my blanket and walked out of the dorm that all  nine of us were sharing.

"Chips?" He asked, confusion evident as he followed me.

"Yes. They help me think. Don't you dare judge" I answered as I led the way to the pantry.

He held his huge hands up in surrender. "I never said anything"

"Although. That's stress eating you know? It's unhealthy for a -" he bent down to whisper in my ear as I was busy picking the lock of the pantry.

"Shush." I cut him off and gave him a death stare. He countered it with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and pushed the door open into the pantry where I took down a packet of chips and attacked it with full gusto.

"So, the point is. We've both been in the sim of the location. We both know that something is up with the places. Nothing seems tangible. At least to me." I said, making wild gestures with my hand while swallowing the chip that I was chewing

"What did you see in your dream?"

"Initially just corridor's , arrows, fire, water, stone. The usual. Then something strange happened. I entered a squarish-hall, and I could see the sword, but also a man. Which is strange. No man can stay alive in that place." I answered.

"That's weird. I saw a man guarding the trident too." He said as he took a seat on the floor opposite me.

"Do you think the general's are still alive?" He asked. "That's the only way this makes sense.

"In that case, King Zlatan would have to be alive too. Which is impossible. They would have to have been alive for almost an eon. It goes against all principles of time" I answered logically.

For a while only the sound of my chewing could be heard.

"You fight well" He said

"No shit Sherlock!" I snorted out.

He gave me a blank expression as I got up and dusted the shorts of my pajama's. I opened the door and turned around

"You planning to sleep here?" I teased.

He countered with his own "No shit Sherlock" as he followed me out the door. I couldn't help but laugh.

I didn't have many friends, but somehow this boy, who I barely knew for 24 hours, was making me feel as comfortable as I felt around Noah and Rave. Not just him. I felt a familiar feeling with all other six members of the team. There was hardly any room for awkwardness when you knew that you might just die together.

As I settled back into the bed, I gave him a two-finger salute and flopped down onto the pillow. He returned with a nod of his own from the other end of the room. The chip escapade had surely been relieving for my mind. With that thought, I was slowly lulled back into dream-land.

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The alarm sounded and as usual, it was followed by a series of collective groans. The nine of us had been put in a single dorm for the night, and safe to say, none of us were looking forward to the day.

Nevertheless, we slowly got up. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I caught sight of Noah. A three second stare later, accompanied by Raven's "Oh here they go again" and confused expressions from the other, tradition followed.

I'm not bragging or anything. But I was ahead in all lines today.

We headed down into the gym where we met Master Shiro for morning session of training. We were divided into pairs after warming up and asked to start sparring . Ajax happened to be my partner. Master Shiro himself sparred against Dean.

"You're tiny" Ajax stated.

"So are you" I countered.

"Touche" he replied with a smile.

He was an excellent fighter too. We rotated partners every 15 minutes. It gave us a great chance to bond.

I found out that Kate had a younger brother who she would do anything for.

Ryan was my soulmate. It felt like I had found another Raven.

Ajax was a clown. Deadly, but funny.

I spent most of my energy trying to get Dean down on the mat and Emma could get in as many blows in a single chance, the amount of words she could fire out in ten seconds.

Two hours later, we were back in line for showers after a tiring early session. At least I was ahead in the lines today.

A quick shower and a hearty breakfast later, we once again found ourselves in Enigma's Lab, finally ready to hear what we had sentenced ourselves too.

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Ahaha, we have a small Levi-Luna moment. Hope you guys liked the chapter

Fact of the day :- I actually do tend to binge on potato chips alot. Anyone else??

As always, Thank You for giving Relics a read.

                                -Yours Truly, Lilempress